Literacy, Learning, and Media

"The very notion of literacy is being altered.... To function in hypermedia, to read and design Web pages and embark on computer-based projects, one must orchestrate a fresh amalgam of graphic, linguistic, and auditory literacies. There is every reason to believe that these literacies will continue to proliferate."

* Howard Gardner, author of Intelligence Reframed: Multiple Intelligences for the 21st Century (Basic Books, 1999)

Literacy now requires understanding and manipulating the processes used to create messages in the modern world. This implies having the ability to decode information from all types of media. The features of multiple literacies are increasingly overlapping with each other and with basic subject matter. The expanding definition of literacy does not diminish the importance of traditional reading and writing skills; rather, it recognizes the increasing importance of information and communication technology. As the 21st Century gets under way, we see references to technological literacy, visual literacy, information literacy, networking literacy--and we can be sure that more are lurking out there beyond the technological horizon.

THE IMPACT OF MEDIA ON SOCIAL INTERACTIONS AND INTELLECTUAL DEVELOPMENT

Aldous Huxley felt that the more subtle and persuasive the medium, the greater the danger. Media that appealed to the senses of vision and hearing with stunning immediacy were viewed as particularly dangerous to the uninformed. Like Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451, Huxley's Brave New World suggests that psychological and moral paralysis can be a direct consequence of powerful communication technologies. We would do well to keep these horrors in the realm of science fiction.

Multiple technology-intensive literacies increasingly cut across subject matter and life. Media literacy is a good example. It involves more than teaching through media; it is teaching about, and creating with, media. As part of an expanded definition of literacy, media literacy may be thought of as comprehending, analyzing, composing, and appreciating multiple print and nonprint symbol systems. As new subject-matter standards point out, communication and information technologies can serve as an integrating and collaborative force in the classroom.

Today's students live in a world where more and more information is communicated through a video screen. The habits of mind fostered through media interactions really do need to be understood by everybody. In 1999, the American Academy of Pediatrics pointed to parental responsibility for limiting TV watching. The Academy suggested (based on little empirical evidence) that children under the age of two should not view television at all. Its report also noted that if young children do tune in, the result may even hamper the brain development associated with essential stimuli like close-up interaction with older people. Though these are good arguments, there is little in the way of scientific foundation for them. There is general agreement, however, that direct human interaction is far better than frenzied images. Young children learn best when they can do things in three dimensions--but the video screen offers only two. Some of the same concerns that surround television viewing also apply to computer use at the early childhood level.

Whether it's the television or the computer, a little carefully chosen educational programming doesn't hurt children. In fact, above age three, it seems to be mildly helpful. With every age group, computer programs and the Internet can be fun--especially when an adult or a friend shares the experience. Still, the evidence is clear that children need to be carefully limited to developmentally appropriate material (Hamm, 1999). Children of all ages also need stimulating activities with peers and knowledgeable adults to guide them. However, at some point children have to understand the possibilities and the pitfalls of the electronic media surrounding them.

Clearly, students in tomorrow's schools will interact with the full range of media possibilities, viewing a mix of media as "texts" to be experienced, appreciated, analyzed, created, and shared. Digital media are good vehicles for interactive storytelling. For the first time, active, hands-on electronic learning is available for students all over the word. Internet technology puts the world at the student's fingertips.

As technology advances, learning how to sort valid information from a glut of misinformation is becoming an important element of literacy. We must learn to ask these questions:

* Who wrote this, and who would believe it?

* Is the source educational, commercial, gossip, or solid research?

* What are the credentials of the writer or producer?

* When was it originally published or produced?

* How accurate, current, and organized is the information?

* Why was it done, and where might I get more accurate information?

The next step is to learn how to sort out what's worth knowing and to focus on academics in the face of glittering distractions.

LINKING TECHNOLOGY TO EDUCATION GOALS

Inferences drawn from sophisticated visual models can lead to more profound thinking. Children often rely on their visual learning, even when their conceptual knowledge contradicts it. Verbal explanations, personal experience, and active learning in a real classroom will remain important. But there are times when the video screen can provide potent visual experiences that push viewers to accept what is presented. The moving image has as much power to make our thoughts robust as it does to make them feeble.

Before schools put more resources into buying computers or wiring classrooms for the Internet, they need to identify significant instructional problems that the technology will help to solve. Educational goals come first; the next step is to figure out how to apply the technology to the curriculum. The following are basic points to consider when planning how to link technology to educational goals.

* Teachers' needs must be a top priority.

* It takes time for technology to take hold.

* It takes more than technology to change schools.

* The pedagogical plan has to come first.

* The curriculum should drive the way technology is used.

* The focus should be kept on specific learning needs.

* Access and equity must be paid attention.

There is little question that today's reality is being shaped by electronic information and electronic illusions. Baby boomers are the first TV generation, and Generation X is rapidly becoming the Net Generation. If the future isn't televised, it is bound to be on the Internet. As the commercial TV model takes hold on the Web, it makes teaching with the Internet more difficult. Because much of the Internet has been turned into a shopping mall, some universities and governmental agencies are turning to an alternative (noncommercial), high-speed "Internet2." Only time will tell what combination the public schools will be.

Whatever form the technology takes, children often construct the meaning of television content without consciously thinking about it. They attend to stimuli and extract meaning. How well visually intensive content is understood varies according to similarities between a child's experiential background and content. Needs, interests, and age are also important.

Students profit from exploring how technologies become intrusive into their culture and their personal lives. Children need an intellectual and moral compass for assessing media, and they need tools for sorting through the information glut. School-based instruction can make a difference by helping students construct meaning, interpret information, and assess information found on the Internet, the computer, or the television. We need a new vocabulary to understand new circumstances. It's time to figure out how to ask the right conceptual questions in a world illuminated by the constant glow of the video screen.

INFLUENCE OF NEW MEDIA SYMBOL SYSTEMS ON COMMUNICATION

Although every medium borrows from others, at some point it takes on a momentum of its own. Print, film, video, and computers take somewhat different approaches to communicating meaning. Print relies upon the reader's ability to interpret abstract symbols, while the video screen is more direct. Whatever the medium, however, thinking and learning are based on internal symbolic representations and the mental interpretation of those symbols.

Each communications medium makes use of its own distinctive technology for gathering, encoding, sorting, and conveying its contents associated with different situations. The technological nature of a medium affects the interaction with its users--just as the method for transmitting content affects the knowledge required.

We live in a complex society dependent on rapid communication and information access. Television, film, computers, and the Internet are rapidly becoming our dominant cultural tools for selecting, gathering, storing, and conveying knowledge in representational forms. It is little wonder that the various standards projects point to the importance of students developing the skills necessary for interpreting and processing all kinds of media messages.

Individuals must learn to use a medium's symbolic forms for purposes of internal representation. To even begin to read, for example, a child needs to understand sound-symbol relationships between the letters. She also needs the vocabulary and a rich experiential background to comprehend what she is reading. To move beneath the surface of video imagery requires some of the same understandings. But it takes skill to break free from an effortless wash of images and electronically induced visual quicksand. Serious instruction is required to develop critical media consumers who are literate in interpreting and processing visual images.

Print or visual representation--unlike direct experience--is always coded within a symbol system. Learning to understand that system cultivates the mental skills necessary for gathering and assimilating internal representations. Children are now involved with television, computers, or the Internet nearly 30 hours a week at home and more than seven hours a week at school. This is bound to change the texture of learning.

What a child learns is more affected by what is delivered than by the delivery system itself. In other words, the quality of the programming is the key to the quality of any medium. But different media are more than alternative routes to the same end. Specific media attributes call on different sets of mental skills and, by doing so, cater to different learning styles. The processing of information always takes place, and this process always requires skill. The closer the match between the way information is presented and the way it can be mentally represented, the easier it is to learn. Better communication means easier processing and more transfer. Voluntary attention and the formation of ideas can be facilitated by electronic media--with concepts becoming part of the child's repertoire.

Good teaching means opening students' eyes to things they might not have thought of on their own. It requires tapping into real experience, fantasies, and personal visions. Communication and information technology can serve as a capable collaborator. The combination of thoughtful strategies and the enabling features of electronic tools can achieve lasting cognitive change and improved academic performance.

LAYING THE GROUNDWORK FOR MOTIVATED LEARNERS

We are putting together the technological elements needed to give us electronic access to a truly individualized set of learning experiences. To do this right, we need to develop a modern philosophy of teaching and learning that recognizes high-tech realities. For example, electronically connecting the human mind to global information resources will result in a shift in human consciousness similar to the change that occurred when society moved from an oral to a written culture. The challenge is to provide the intellectual framework and make sure that the possibilities are available for all. New technology might even be able to help us change the tone and priorities of learning in a democratic society. To make this happen, our nation must achieve a better balance of its moral, intellectual, financial, and technological capital.

Computer control gives us the ability to move information around as we think--rather than forcing our thoughts to move around as the program does. Now you can connect to the Internet, create a window on your computer-controlled video screen, and selectively hop down a number of database alleys. Now the Internet is like a library with all of the books dumped in piles on the floor. Today's search engines are blunt devices that are not all that good at cutting through the information glut. Before long, we will have much more efficient individualized search engines ("bots") that roam the vast expanses of cyberspace in search of the specific information that we need.

Television will not be left too far behind. WebTV has been on the scene for several years, and integrated information systems are converging on the scene as we write. Soon we will have artificially intelligent (computer controlled) high-definition television sets that will present movie quality material according the viewer's preferred presentation style. These artificially intelligent (AI) systems will learn what is of most interest to the viewer and comb extensive databases and networks to assemble video programs. All of this will be possible within the next few years, as personal computers become video processing machines.

There are some things that we can be sure about today. For instance, if teachers are going to do their share in educational renewal, they need a thorough knowledge of their subject-matter discipline and the teaching methods that characterize effective instruction. In addition, they must be aware of the world's scientific, technological, communication, social, and personal changes--and they must be prepared to respond to them. As we reach for a mobilizing vision, there's no need to settle for obvious solutions or to accept recent social, educational, or technological limitations. The past, the future, and our expanding knowledge of human beings provide a good set of lenses. Of course, to fully comprehend an uncertain future, we may have no choice but to experience it.

SHIFTING HABITS OF THE MIND

Whether it is on television or on the computer, visual imagery influences children's views of fact, fiction, and traditional literacy. Entertainment is often viewed as representing social reality, despite an accumulation of life experiences that may suggest the opposite. Children, for example, are able to recognize books as fiction long before they are able to recognize what's real or unreal on TV or on the Internet (Adams, 1999).

As we create a public that views reading as a distant work-related task, the idea of reading as a natural activity is diminished. We are now a culture in which ideas, information, and ways of knowing are more shaped by video screen than by newspapers, books, or magazines. One byproduct of this change is that nearly a quarter of American adults would have trouble comprehending a well-written paragraph. The literacy umbrella may cover a broader range of media, but not being able to read and write still condemns you to the bottom of the economic barrel.

The reading of either print or video imagery involves attention to matters of fact, seeing analogies, drawing inferences, and personally shaping distinctions. The main goal of any medium is involvement. Each builds on its own particular technological base to allow for various forms of synthetic form-making activity in the user's mind. To reach a higher level, the major goal should be to make any medium interesting, involving, and life enhancing.

VIEWING AND REMEMBERING

Each type of medium has its own agenda and does best with its own kind of content and particular orientation. The advantage to the electronic variety is that it can be an exciting visual introduction to worlds that would otherwise go unseen. Potentially, this could provide the highest form of justice to the visible universe.

Children retain certain kinds of material presented by visually intensive media and tend to comprehend more of what they see than what they read or hear on the radio or on an audiotape ... and they remember it longer. The learning style of the child affects the degree to which visual media influence comprehension. But direction of that influence is constant. In general, children are more attracted to action and sound effects than to dialogue, and once that action is viewed, it tends to be remembered.

Any medium that provides access to millions of minds has the latent ability to extend literate thought. Unfortunately, because of the commercial nature of American mass media, tapping the possibilities has always been difficult. The fact that a new medium like the Internet is taking on commercial TV values speaks volumes about the influence of television on any promising new medium in America.

Television and its younger associates may promote different mental skills than those developed by reading and writing, but these skills are not necessarily inferior. TV's wide accessibility has the potential for making learning available for groups of children who do not perform well in traditional classroom situations, and it can reach children on their home ground--but the most promising place for critical study is in the classroom. Therefore, excluding television and other visually intensive media from the schools may actually have a negative effect on some learners.

Media programming can capitalize on the developmental aspects of how children learn and process information. Studies of children's educational TV programs have found that visually dramatic techniques can sometimes be very successful in teaching early reading skills. The same may well hold true across electronic media. Visually intensive media may be more closely matched to the mental processes of beginning readers than print. The video screen can hold a child's attention longer and act as a powerful agent of socialization. Quality educational programming has also proven that it can encourage children to discover their creativity while giving them the tools to visually restructure subject-matter concepts. Learning requires active social involvement and personal mental effort. Transforming TV from a passive to an active medium is essential to tapping its full teaching potential.

TECHNOLOGY: A MOTIVATOR THAT ALTERS TIME AND SPACE

America's dissatisfaction with its dominant information media (television and film) and its dominant educational institution (schools) has become chronic and endemic. Yet faith in education--and in technological solutions--continues. We know that education in the future will include technology, that it will begin at an early age, and it will continue throughout life. Therefore, learning will more often occur outside of traditional settings--in the home, in the workplace, and on field trips. Technology will be a partner throughout. And we can be sure that human teachers will be needed to provide a variety of learning experiences.

For education to be truly effective, students must be motivated to participate in the world of ideas. Generating intrinsic motivation to learn is all the more important than ever in a period of lifelong learning and technological change. A major goal of education is to motivate students to continue to learn and to discover simply out of intellectual curiosity. Other goals include instilling the desire to read, speculate, think differently, and to be open to the possibility of being filled with wonder and irony. Technological tools can help by providing a framework to hang ideas on.

Concrete, direct experiences in the actual environment are the best teachers. However concrete experience does not hold the only key to reality. Sometimes the real experience isn't available ... or practice is needed first ... or the subject is too distant in time and space. A good computer-controlled simulation can really help because electronic media can help students go beyond seeing and heating to provide opportunities for the actual experience. It is possible to learn about the real world from electronic imagery, computer simulation, and the Internet. Whatever the subject, the human construction of reality is to some degree an invention. A novelist might distort the facts to get at the truth; a playwright might put exaggeration to the same task; in a good movie, reality is frequently a clever illusion.

There are always unintended side effects to technological and educational progress. The present onslaught of computers and video devices sets forth an unavoidable, if ambiguous, new agenda for teaching, learning, and extending human minds. The technology has the power to motivate students to the point where they do more work on a project simply because it's fun. Computers, for example, can engage students in enticing projects. But are they learning what's most important? For information technology to assist in the process of revitalizing schooling, we must give more attention to instructional programming and creating curriculum-based electronic learning environments. Content and pedagogy do matter. Without intelligent application, even the best electronic media are ineffective.

NEW MEDIA AND VISUAL LITERACY SKILLS

Experience has shown that technologically influenced curriculum works best when the learner is empowered with decision-making authority under the guidance of a knowledgeable adult. Placing instructional innovations in the classroom also requires an appreciation of the individuality and complexity of real youngsters living in a real environment. Clearly, building intellectual autonomy necessitates getting beyond chalk, talk, and worksheet. And just as clearly, it's adult attention that makes children grow.

Discussion over the place of the "old" and "new" literacies in the curriculum is a vital debate. The struggle is between worthy opponents contending for a larger share of the pedagogical picture. The central question is what fraction of instructional time will be spent with which communication medium. One sure thing is that visual literacy will be more important than ever.

Visual literacy might be thought of as the ability to comprehend and create visuals in a variety of moving and static media in order to communicate effectively. This involves components of writing, reading, comprehension, visual interpretation, critical evaluation, and production. Images have always been important to learning and its transfer to real-world situations. New technology just amplifies the process.

From cave drawings to medieval cathedrals to children's book illustrations, visual imagery has been a major human communication tool. Illustrations, photographs, charts, and graphs increase children's learning of meaningful written and verbal materials. Visual thinking and visual rehearsal are effective instructional techniques. Teaching with images can help students focus on lessons, retain information, and improve psychomotor skills. Children who view illustrations may well recall more of a story than students who only listen. Illustrations and their internal representation can improve retention and comprehension. Teachers have long known that visuals help children comprehend unfamiliar vocabulary and add meaning to stories in ways that words alone can't.

BECOMING AN INTELLIGENT CONSUMER OF MEDIA

Mass communication is the production and distribution of messages with technological devices. There are some new kids on the block. Still, certain principles hold. Becoming a critical consumer of any medium requires training. Multiple-media platforms can mount programs that can entertain us, distract us, or settle worthy concepts in our hearts and minds.

Being an intelligent consumer of media requires an understanding of the form and content of media messages. It also requires an understanding of how to place those messages in a context and understanding how the various social, political, and commercial forces shape the message. Media literacy involves critical viewing skills and the ability to examine, evaluate, and interpret content. Teachers, parents, and others can take this neglected literacy and develop serious learning activities.

Television, computer programs, and the Internet grow more visually striking and interactive with each passing year. Netcams now let us see whom we are dealing with on the Internet. New digital technology allows cameras to view things previously seen only with devices like electron microscopes or radio telescopes. The digitization of a picture allows the viewer to zoom in or provide three-dimensional imagery of the elements from any angle, and computer graphics and simulation can take over from there. Students can "see" what it's like to be in the middle of an atom or out in the galaxy, where no camera has gone before (or science for that matter). In a digital environment, physical proximity is no longer supreme.

Youngsters can sometimes get closer to understanding with electronic devices than they can with books or through discussion. This is especially true if electronic imagery is coupled with concrete activities. It is preferable to simulate a dangerous chemical reaction and then use real chemicals for a safer classroom experiment. Actual chemical experiments can be viewed at the micro level with digital cameras and graphically simulated by computer. But the technology takes us only so far. Computer-mediated online study can teach many things. However, learning the broader themes of life requires a certain amount of face-to-face interaction with knowledgeable adults and a community of peers. Classrooms that are centered on learners and learning recognize the importance of interpersonal dialogues, critical thinking, and active collaboration.

SOCIAL INVOLVEMENT AND EFFECTIVE TEACHING

The Internet has been praised as superior to television and other passive media because it allows users to choose the kind of information they want to receive, and often, to respond to it in chat rooms, email exchanges, or on electronic bulletin boards. The reality is that sometimes we connect and sometimes we don't. It has long been known that television reduces social involvement. The idea that Internet communication can be just as lonely may come as a surprise to many, but virtual relationships can be disembodied and distant when formed in the vacuum of cyberspace.

The problem with much of our current information and communication technology is that it can fill our heads with isolated fragments of facts without providing the social context that would give these facts meaning. This can make life in the world's technological societies a whirl of disconnected general notions and attitudes. Fortunately, there are some positive possibilities. For example, teachers can avoid placing children in solitary confinement by pairing them up to work on the computer. No one has to be trapped in the sad, lonely world of cyberspace. Teachers can also take advantage of the computer's proven ability to provide dynamic visual representations of various concepts.

We would do well to remember that the entire curriculum, no matter how advanced technologically, must be filtered through the mind of the teacher. The most comprehensive high-tech curriculums and pleasant school environments are of little use unless they are matched with quality teachers. Putting learned thoughts and principles into action requires preparation and sustained professional development.

An effective medium has the ability to change how we use our senses to process thought and perceive reality. Like traditional reading and writing, it is not just a simple matter of decoding symbols but the construction of meaning. The video image is more vivid than print and speaks powerfully to a new generation. The ease with which the electronic image involves all of our senses is unparalleled in the history of communication. On a superficial level, it is easier to decode; however, deeper understanding and control are harder to come by. When new electronic means are coupled with effective teaching strategies, speech, writing, print, and visual media can all be enhanced.

The use of technology isn't about getting away from reading and writing. It's about giving the student a richer, more interactive experience that enhances basic education. Eventually, all successful media become transparent as we lose consciousness of the medium itself and think about what truth it has told us about ourselves and our world. No matter how powerful the technology, learning how to write well, communicate with team members, and speak effectively in public will be part of what we do in school.

Just as the computer has changed our relationship to television, the Internet is changing both. We are starting to get good enabling programs that allow us to sort through the glut of information. But unlocking the full potential of communication and information technology is out there beyond the technological horizons in education. One thing is sure: over the next few years, a powerful new media synergy will radically change how we think and how we learn.

There is general agreement that information and communication technology can help us re-examine instructional strategies and educational goals. It is just as clear that digital media are becoming increasingly important in education. The various standards projects recognize these developments and point to the need for incorporating electronic media into the core curriculum. Certainly, the field of electronic media is becoming a dominating agency of education throughout the world. What isn't clear is exactly how technology will improve instruction and change the day-to-day work of teachers.

Media experiences both inside and outside the classroom can provide access to learning for all students. Our shared media culture can serve as the basis for classroom exploration. The critical factor is always how the technology is used by people. But there is no reason why we can't turn the one-way commercial system of mass media into a two-way process of reflection and discussion. Creative action with one another and with the medium itself is key.

By applying their knowledge of effective instruction and using high-tech tools, teachers can help children imagine, create, and reach new thinking and learning plateaus. By using the technological tools of the day and the intellectual tools of their profession, teachers can open students' minds to subject matter and the potential of promising technology.

READINGS

Adams, D., and Hamm, M. (1994). New Designs for Teaching and Learning: Promoting Active Learning in Tomorrow's Schools. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Dean, J. (2000). Improving Children's Learning: Effective Teaching in the Primary School. New York: Routledge.

Dertouzos, M. L. (1997). What Will Be: How the New World of Information Will Change Our Lives. San Francisco: HarperCollins.

Gardner, H. (1999). The Disciplined Mind: What All Students Should Understand. New York: Simon & Schuster.

Greenfield, P. M., and Cocking, R. R. (1996). Interacting with Video. Norwood, NJ: Ablex.

James, M. (2000). "Social Class and Media." Unpublished manuscript. (We wish to thank Michael James for his contribution).

Yagelski, R. P. (2000). Literacy Matters: Writing and Reading the Social Self. New York: Teachers College Press.

Dennis Adams, a former Fulbright Scholar, teaches at Montclair State University in New Jersey during the academic year. In the late spring and summer, he substitute teaches in the Laguna Salada Union School District outside San Francisco. He has authored or co-authored more than a dozen books and over 100 articles. His research and writing projects have focused on topics such as educational technology, collaborative inquiry, language learning, and literacy for diverse populations.

Mary Hamm is a professor of education at San Francisco State University, where she teaches math and science education. She has a degree in environmental education from the University of Wisconsin and a doctorate in elementary education from the University of Northern Colorado. She worked as a public school teacher in Wisconsin and has authored or co-authored more than a dozen books and has published articles in such journals as Science and Children, School Science and Mathematics, and Educational Technology.

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